Since its modestly successful 1983 release, "A Christmas Story" has gradually become stuck in the American consciousness tighter than a kid's tongue on a frozen flagpole.

Cable television is ruled this time of year by the 1940s-set film about 9-year-old Ralphie Parker's yearnings, despite adult reproaches that he'd only shoot his eye out, to have Santa Claus bring him an official Red Ryder carbine-action BB gun.

In 2007, the 11th annual "A Christmas Story" marathon on TBS, running 24 hours starting Christmas Eve, drew an all-time high of 2.8 million viewers. The movie's episodic structure, vignettes based on the nostalgic, irreverent short stories of humorist Jean Shepherd, is part of its TV appeal: You can jump in or out at any point.

After 25 years, this holiday movie inspires geeky devotion usually reserved for sci-fi flicks and comic books. Thousands of fans are expected to attend the fourth annual Christmas Story House and Museum convention Friday and Saturday in Cleveland, where most of "A Christmas Story" was shot (details: achristmasstoryhouse.com).

In Portland, the anniversary will be marked by an all-ages (minors accompanied by an adult) matinee Saturday afternoon at Bagdad Theater, a benefit for the homeless-youth outreach group Dinner and a Movie. As a bonus, attending adults get a free ticket for that night's screening of director Bob Clark's very different Christmas-themed movie, the 1974 slasher flick "Black Christmas."

Scott Schwartz (that's him as Flick, tongue firmly affixed to a frozen flagpole), says this scene was not actually a lot of fun to shoot.

The Oregonian reminisced by phone with "A Christmas Story" co-star Scott Schwartz, who memorably played Flick, Ralphie's flagpole-licking pal, as the former child actor ran errands for his Los Angeles-area movie memorabilia business. The interview was edited for clarity and brevity.

Q: When did it dawn on you that this was a movie you'd be talking to complete strangers about for the rest of your life?

A: Right after the first marathon, all of a sudden there was just this buzz about it. Then this company in New Jersey called NECA started making "A Christmas Story" toys and board games. When they started doing that stuff, that's when we kind of knew this wasn't going to go away.

Q: Is there a scene in the movie that you like the best or remember having fun doing?

A: My favorite scene is the Chinese restaurant. Most of the stuff I did was outside, and it was cold. Bitter cold, 20 to 25 below zero with the wind chill. My memories are things like hanging out with the other kids in the hotel, going down to this one deli that was in the mall. So the memories I have were more outside the film.

Q: How did the director, Bob Clark, work with the kids? He was better known at the time for having made horror films and sex comedies.

A: Bob was great. He gave Peter Billingsley, who played Ralphie, a lot more direction than he gave me because I had already done several other films. For the flagpole scene, Bob basically gave me no direction whatsoever. He just said, "Go for it. Do it. If I think it's too much, I'll let you know."

Q: Is it true that you had to go back and shoot the flagpole scene all over again because the film from the first time you shot turned out bad?

A: We shot it for about 12 hours the first time, which was actually my first day of shooting on the film. But when it was developed it turned out too dark, so we had to go back to Cleveland and re-shoot it. The second shoot took a little less time -- it was only 11 hours! And it was really, really cold.

Q: It looks cold, which makes the scene more believable. Not to mention the terror that Flick displays.

A: I couldn't tell you where it came from. Again, Bob told me to just go for it. He said, "Remember, you're in sheer terror, you're stuck." The pole itself was plastic and it had a hole where they had put a vacuum tube. The motor was buried in the snow so you couldn't hear it; they turned it on and it was just like putting your mouth over a vacuum cleaner. There were several takes where I pulled off because I tried to stand a little too far away from the pole.

Q: Do you think "A Christmas Story" is the best Christmas movie ever made?

A: It's probably one of the top three to five. I try to look at it from the perspective of not being in the film and just asking how has it had this staying power and just continues to grow. It's a film that transcends generations; it doesn't matter whether you're 5 or 55 or 75, everybody remembers that one particular holiday season when you wanted that one really special gift, whether it's an iPod, iPhone, electronic games or a Red Ryder BB gun.